Latest Research on Plastic in the Ocean

Plastic sea trash doesn't biodegrade and often floats at the surface. Bottlecaps, bags and wrappers that end up in the ocean from the wind or through overflowing sewage systems can then drift thousands of miles.
The sheer quantity of plastic that accumulates in the North Pacific Gyre, a vortex formed by ocean and wind currents and located 1,000 miles off the California coast, has the scientists worried about how it might harm the sea creatures there.
A study released earlier this month estimated that thousands of tons of plastic debris wind up in the oceans every year, and some of that has ended up in the swirling currents of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Styro-strike!

Hi --
I'm on Styro-strike!
This Friday, there is a shareholder meeting at Jamba Juice. I'm standing up to push them to switch from Styrofoam cups to something more eco-friendly.
That's why I'm not going to buy anything that comes in a Styrofoam cup or container.
There is also a statewide ban in works. It's time to stand up!

Join me!
Check out this page at the Environment California Web site:
http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/action/oceans/styro-strike?id4=tafsent
Thanks.

Recycling Website of the Month

Even though I don't write in my blog near as much as I should I continue my vigilance with trying to cut down on the amount of plastic that enters our landfills and our oceans.

Pending a total planetary ban on the production and distribution of plastic products, we must do a better job of recycling. I found this recycling website, Recycling Super Guide on Earth911.com (which is another great website by itself!).

What I like about the Recycling Super Guide website is that is is clean and simple and easy to read and navigate so you don't get too overwhelmed while trying to learn more.

Enjoy!

New Ideas to Cut Down on Plastic

I learned about this site from Ideal Bite. Ideally we don't want to use a Dry Cleaner at all, because the chemicals used in the process of dry cleaning are really bad for us and the environment. Not to mention the waste involved! Look at all the plastic they use to wrap those clothes after "cleaning" them!

I have a few clothes that need to be dry-cleaned and they have been sitting around my house not being worn for close to 2 years because I just couldn't bring myself to go to the dry cleaners anymore. Well, good thing I didn't get rid of them because I found a Dry Cleaners locally that cleans clothes using liquid carbon dioxide. It claims to be non-toxic, non-hazardous, non-carcinogenic and has no chemical smell!

I can't wait to try it. If you live in the San Diego area you can find one closest to you at:
Hangers Cleaners.

Then you can take your Clothesnik bag with you and help cut down on plastic waste too!

Clean Your Beach!

Not all of us have the good fortune to live close to the ocean, but if you do...if you grew up near one like I did... then you know that special feeling the ocean gives you. It's a feeling that's hard to explain, but it is uplifting, healing and inspirational all at once.

When I read about the Plastic Soup, it broke my heart to think that we have destroyed something so beautiful all for the sake of convenience!

I run at the beach 3 times a week and see a lot of plastic waste and trash below the high tide mark, which means that junk will be in the water within a few hours time.

Whenever I see trash I try to pick it up, in fact I'm kind of obsessive about it, but I see so many people that just step right over it and go merrily on their way. If you want to enjoy the beauty of something, wouldn't you want to help take care of it too? It just takes a few minutes to pick up a piece of trash and deposit it in a trash can.

Our city has an organization called ILACSD (I love a clean San Diego) that puts on several beach clean ups per year and I highly recommend getting involved with something like that. A lot of the plastic that ends up in the ocean could have been kept out if it had just been picked up off the beach.

It's great to have occasional beach clean ups, but what happens to all the trash that ends up on the beach the other 363 days of the year? Wouldn't it be great if we could have daily beach clean ups?

Well I just looked on the ILACSD website and they have an adopt-a-beach program which is exactly what I was thinking of! Check it out at: http://www.ilacsd.org/v_beach.php There are currently over 5000 volunteers.

I think when I retire I am going to volunteer at ILACSD or something like it. It is so gratifying to know that you are doing something to help our planet.

I recommend it to everyone. We should all be doing something, no matter how insignificant. If I pick up 10 pieces of trash a day (which I do plus some) 3 days a week, 50 weeks a year, that's 1500 pieces of trash. Muliply that by even just 5000 people and you're talking 7,500,000 piece of trash we would keep from washing into the ocean every year!

You Can Help!

Each year Californians use 19 billion plastic bags. Those bags end up in landfills or in the ocean.
Trash in landfills is a major contributor to greenhouse gases that cause global warming. And plastic bags in the ocean are harmful to marine life - hundreds of thousands of marine mammals die each year from ingesting plastic bags.
Plastics are also harmful to human life because they never fully break down in the environment and end up as toxins that threaten human health.
Help reduce the use of plastic bags in California. Email your state senator to support the Plastic Bag Litter Reduction Act (AB 2058).
http://action.edf.org/campaign/CA_plasticbags

Musings on Trash and Consumerism

We live in a fast food society. How have we gotten this way? We live out of our cars. We rush from one place to another. We eat on the go. Would we be able to live this way if plastic had not been invented? Would plastic have been invented if we did not live this way?

Do we really need to be eating on the go? Look at America's obesity rates. I think it would not hurt any of us to wait until we get home to eat. A few hunger pains are not going to hurt us and look at all of the plastic we would not be using!

I have recently gone vegan. I basically eat fruits and vegetables now and the occasional whole wheat bun and vegan protein source (tofu, gardenburgers, etc). I am amazed at how much my plastic usage has decreased. If it weren't for my Panikin/Peet's adiction I would probably not need plastic at all. My previously paltry amount of trash is now next to nothing. If I composted, it would be even less. I live in a condo, but I am starting to think that I could and should compost. Even my recycle bin is not as full as it used to be. Fruits and vegetables just don't come with a lot of wrappings and I don't feel the need to put them all in plastic bags at the grocery store.

I think if we didn't have the convenience of putting our trash out on the street and having it picked up and taken away by a big truck, we might think twice about what we consume and what we throw away. Next week when you take your trash out, imagine where you would put it all if you were responsible for disposing of it yourself. Now imagine your trash times 105,000,000. That's how many households there are just in the United States. Start living as if you DID have to dispose of all of your trash yourself and see how it affects your choices.